Addicted in Afghanistan

2009. Afghanistan/Great Britain/The Netherlands. Directed by Jawed Taiman. There are more than a million drug addicts in Afghanistan, including a shockingly high percentage of children. The feature-length debut of director Taiman focuses on two teenagers, Jabar and Zahir, whose families have been ravaged by drugs. The film sketches an intimate portrait of their lives in the slums of Kabul, where they smoke heroin in their decrepit houses or visit the detox clinic for the umpteenth time. The political situation of their broken country is implicated in their troubles; while Jabar and Zahir blame the Americans for introducing heroin to Afghanistan, Zahir's mother knows better—it was the Taliban that got her addicted. Presented in conjunction with the Jan Vrijman Fund of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), one of the leading documentary events in the world. Each year in November, more than 300 documentaries are screened for a huge number of film lovers and professionals. IDFA's Jan Vrijman Fund supports filmmakers and festivals in developing countries. Its goal is to stimulate local film cultures and to turn the creative documentary into a truly global film art. www.idfa.nl. In Farsi, Dari, Pashto, and Persian; English subtitles. 78 min.

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